1844. J 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



467 



frost might in that manner lead to pulverization, there might he difficulty in 

 counteracting such effects — it is however a well ascertained fact, that no such 

 tendency exists. I cannot do hetter than refer you to some very able 

 remarks by Mr. C. II. Smith, in answer to questions put to him by the 

 Commissioners on the Fine Arts, in reference to the causes of damp upon 

 the internal surfaces of walls, where it is clearly not produced by the pene- 

 tration of rain ; that gentleman attributes these defects to accidental circum- 

 stances, such as are mentioned by him ill his reply to the Commissioners, — 

 (See Journal for last month (p. 424.) 



I have extended these remarks beyond my first intention, which was 

 simply to mention the result attending the use of Mr. Sylvester's pre- 

 paration. It appeared to me proper to communicate the facts here men- 

 tioned, to my professional brethren, and I have only further to add, that 

 since I commenced writing this communication, 1 have heard that the same, 

 process has been applied to a large building having a frontage of 100 feet, 

 and to another school-bouse, and that the cost of the ingredients for com- 

 pletely coating these buildings, was 45 shillings only. 



SOCIETY OF ARTS, LONDON. 



Nov. 8. — The commencement of the session for reading papers was occu- 

 pied by a paper on the various means for preserving life in case of shipwreck ; 

 there were many ingenious devices and models exhibited. The paper was 

 ably drawn up by Mr. Whishaw, the indefatigable Secretary of the Society. 



Nov. 15.- — A communication by Mr. Pellat, on Coating Iron with Zinc and 

 Copper, was read; it was similar to the paper read at the Institution of Civil 

 Engineers and leporteil by us in the November Journal. Mr. Pellat slated 

 that the cost of coating iron with zinc was about 3rf. per superficial foot, 

 and with copper Sd. 



Nov. 22. — The Secretary read a paper accompanied by models and dia- 

 grams, illustrating Mr. Charles Wye Williams's argand furnace and con- 

 ductor pins for boilers. 



Nov. 29. — Benj. Rotch, Esq. V. P. in the chair. A paper by Mr. Dyer, on 

 Patent Metallic Sand Cement, was read by the Secretary. It stated that the 

 cement was composed of blue lias lime, mixed with the metallic sand. 

 This sand is produced by grinding copper slag by means of powerful ma- 

 chinery, and consists of iron, zinc, arsenic, and silica, the iron predominating; 

 the slag is procured in abundance in Swansea, In chymical analysis it is 

 very similar to the pozzolann, and in point of durability it is found to be 

 equal to the latter. With blue lias lime, which is used for hydraulic works, 

 the metallic sand readily enters into combination, and these having been 

 used toget her for external works, exposed to all the changes of the atmo- 

 sphere, have proved the indurating quality of the metallic sand, after an ex- 

 perience of eight years. Specimens were laid on the table : 1st, brickwork 

 of a fresh-water tank, which had been erected six years, was removed by a 

 pick-axe; the bricks yielding to the strokes of the axe, but the cement re- 

 maining solid ; 2nd, imitations of marble executed by a painter on the face 

 of stuccoed-work, formed of metallic cement, in conjunction with common 

 chalk, lime, and putty, and afterwards polished ; 3rd, a specimen of fresco- 

 painting, also executed on a face similar to the above; 4th, a vase, the figures 

 on which retain their original sharpness, although it has been exposed to the 

 atmosphere for many years. 



Dec. 6. — A paper was to have been read by B. Roteh, Esq., on a new turn 

 table for railways, and a new weighing machine, but, owing to the sudden 

 indisposition of that gentleman, the subjects were postponed to a future 

 evening. The information only reached Mr. Whishaw a very short time be- 

 fore the hour of meeting, but, not to allow the visitors to be disappointed, 

 with his usual tact, bad a large assortment of the various locks, models of 

 which have been, for many years past, sent to the society, placed on the 

 tables, and the principles of which were ably explained by Messrs. Solly and 

 Varley, two members present. Barron's, Mnrdan's, Chubb's, Duke's, Bra- 

 mah's, and various other earlier patents, were described ; and the wooden 

 model of a lock was exhibited, the original of which was brought from 

 Egypt, and supposed to have been in use 2000 years ago — yet, strange to 

 say, it exhibits, in its workings, though of rude construction, a close simi- 

 larity to more than one of the modern patents. — Mr. Varley exhibited a spe- 

 cimen of wheat straw, taken from a specimen which had been purchased by 

 him, from which he had gleaned nearly as much wheat as would pay for the 

 whole truss of straw. This, he said, he was convinced was frequently the 

 case, and he attributed it to the imperfect mode of thrashing, as generally 

 adopted, although so many excellent machines exist. The evening closed 

 with the society's usual routine business. 



Dec. 13.— B. B. Cahbell, Esq., V. P., in the chair.— The Secretary read a 

 paper on Mr. Johnstone's plan of forming afixed breakwater. 



The plan is as follows : a series of distinct and separate caissons — each 

 representing in external form one half of the pier of a bridge, with its cut- 

 water presented to the sea — is to be formed ill four to six fathoms water, 

 according to localities. Each caisson to consist of cast-iron plates of large 

 size, and one inch in thickness (prepared with coal-tar, so as to resist corro- 

 sion), bolted together by means of four inch flanges; the whole to be filled 

 with concrete, granite, or other suitable material. The lower part of each 



caisson, to the height of thirty-two feet, having a foundation platform of 

 wood, to be completed on shore, and when prepared to be launched, and 

 towed out to its position, and then lowered ; the whole to be secured to the 

 bed of the sea by means of cast-iron piles, driven through tubes of the same 

 material. — As the upper part of the caisson is put together, so is the interior 

 to be filled up with the solid materials, and to be coped with clamped ma- 

 sonry. The weight of each caisson, complete, would he 4,500 tons ; and the 

 cost of a breakwater on this principle, extending to nearly a mile in length, 

 is estimated at 297, 800/. 



The Secretary next read a paper by Mr. Claudet, " On the Daguerreotype 

 Art" including a complete history of its origin and progress; one of Mr. 

 C'laudet's assistants showing, by means of artificial light, the whole process 

 of producing a picture. The most important pan of this communication re- 

 lated to an improvement lately applied ; it is a process i f engraving on a 

 metallic plate. M. Fizeau is the discoverer of this new mode of engraving. 

 Professor Grove has tried the process, which consists in dissolving, by the 

 electrotype process, those parts of the picture which consist of i ore siher. 

 Thus the plate is etched in, and transformed into an engraved plate for 

 printing; the action, however, of the galvanic battery sometimes extends to 

 those parts which should remain unattacked. 



Dec. 20. — W. H. Hughes, Esq. V. P. in the chair. The Secretary ex- 

 plained the Automaton Calculator invented by Dr. Roth, of Paris, by which 

 any number, either simple or compound sums, may be rapidly and accurately 

 added together, provided the whole amount does not exceed 999,099, or 

 999,999/. 19s. llf. The instrument consists of an oblong mahogany box, 

 lu£ inches long, 1\ inches wide, and 1 inch thick, having a metal plate at 

 the top. in which are 9 semi-annular perforations, beneath which are fixed 

 the requisite trains of wheels. Round the perforations are engraved the 

 index figures, opposite to which, in the perforations, are the teeth of corres- 

 ponding wheels. Under the indexes are 9 circular holes, in which the num- 

 beis set down appear as if written on paper or a slate. To set down any 

 required figure, a pointer is inserted in the notch corresponding with that 

 figure on the index, and by pressing the pointer against the left-hand tooth 

 of the notch, it is moved down to the left extremity of the annular perfo- 

 ration, and the figure is at once exhibited in the circular hole beneath. 

 When the operation of adding up any amount within the range already men- 

 tioned is finished, it is requisite that should be shown in each of the semi- 

 circular holes, before another operation can be performed ; this is done by 

 pulling out a slide at the left end of the instrument, which first gives 

 999,999/. 19*. \\\d., and by adding h/. the nine 0s are obtained at once. 



Mr. G. A. Hughes, who has been blind for seven years, exhibited his sys- 

 tem of Stenography. — The system consists of two dots, the one smooth and 

 the other rough, which, with the aid of a guide line, are so arranged that all 

 the letters of the alphabet, as also the numerals, are readily represented, 

 merely by impressing the paper, either with the smooth end or rough end of 

 the embossing instrument, in squares, regulated by what Mr. Hughes calls 

 the formula, consisting of a brass frame, furnished with vertical and horizon- 

 tal bars. 



Mr. Taylor exhibited two Fire Escapes ; and Mr. Higgs explained his im- 

 proved Monochord, in which measurement has been applied to sound, and 

 the actual relation of one tone to another is shown on a scale of two feet. 



REVIEWS. 



The Companion to the Almanac, 1S44. 



The Companion is always a welcome visitor, affording, as it does, a 

 retrospective review of what has been done in the past year. It con- 

 tains an able paper ''On Arithmetical Computation," by Mr. De 

 Morgan ; the progress of railways in England, an epitome of the 

 railways in America ; a chapter on pavements of towns, in which an 

 able notice is taken of most of the wood pavements, and other modes 

 of paving; an abstract of all the principal Acts of Parliament passed 

 last Session, and its usual report on "Public Improvements," which, on 

 account of its critical acumen, is especially entitled to the notice of 

 architects; it has some appropriate remarks on the facade of the 

 British Museum, which has already occupied our pages — also, notices 

 of the buildings, in Lothbury — the Doric Screen of the Marquis of 

 Westminsters, Grosvenor Street; engravings of the Taylor and Rau-- 

 dolph Institution, at Oxford, by Mr. Cockerell, with an engraving; 

 the Proprietary College at Cheltenham ; Lincoln's Inn hall and 

 Library, in the style of Hampton Court Palace, by Mr. Hardwick ; and 

 the Joint Railway Terminus, in the Italian style, at London Bridge, of 

 that portion which has been erected, — a view of the whole appeared 

 in last month's Journal, and the Com Exchange at Glasgow. Liesnles 

 what we have already enumerated,— the ' Companion' contains a great 

 mass of valuable statistical information. 



